Hot Dogs and Construction Supervision

Believe it or not, one of the most frequently asked questions about our building project is "What will happen to the hot dog man?"

For six years, Percy Price has been located at the northwest corner of 3rd and Court Streets selling hot dogs, hamburgers and sodas to neighboring office workers and hungry travelers using the bus station.  He's as much a part of the landscape as the fire station.   When construction started on the building, he had to relocate across the street (in front of the bus station) as the construction fencing encompasses the sidewalk.

Those of you who came to the groundbreaking remember that we had Percy cater it.....providing hot dogs and hamburgers to all who attended.

From his new perch, Percy can view the construction process as it unfolds. In fact, when I want to know how things are "really" going on the site......I ask him.

So when we got ready to start construction, Percy asked Franki Aitken, our Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, if he could return to his corner after construction. Franki decided that it would be great to have a hot dog vendor in front of the building.....but cautioned Percy that our staff is a pretty health conscious bunch.

So, when the building opens next summer, Percy will be right outside the front door, but with the addition of "Turkey Dogs" to his menu!

The neighborhood....and us.

One of the principles that we gave our design team was that we wanted a building that “fit into the neighborhood”. A tough challenge.

The site of our building is across the street from the Chiarelli Parking Garage—a useful, but architecturally uninteresting building. Gleaning clues about architectural style from the bus station or the 3rd and Court firehouse proved equally challenging.

Instead, we looked toward the north and the real bastion of stability in the neighborhood, Zion Baptist Church. Zion Baptist, as I like to say was there when nobody cared. For 103 years, the member of that church have gathered on Sundays in the building for worship. For a long time, before the GoggleWorks, the new parking garages and the Movie Theaters, this little corner of the city was written off……except by Zion Baptist.

So we reached out to the church to form a partnership. We’ve selected materials for the building that complement the church and designed the northern side of our building so that the church doesn’t look at a blank wall.

More importantly, we’ve discussed ways to make the sites work together. The church, for instance, will use the Community Conference Center on Sundays for church programs, relieving some of the pressure that’s built up because of their rapid growth. We’ll also open our small parking lot behind the building to them for services, allowing some of their older members to avoid parking in the garage.

A few years ago, the church acquired and cleared the buildings on the rest of the block. We’ve begun discussing with them ways to work together to redevelop that site---and they may even go green!

But the best part has been the personal relationships we’ve developed. The deacons of the church have been wonderful to work with and graciously accommodating of our need to tie up a small corner of their lot while we’re doing construction. Pastor Raymond Bland, the church’s leader, has been not only a supporter of our work, but become a great friend. And every time I visit, they feed me!

As the building goes up, we’ll continue to work with all of our neighbors to make sure that, as much as possible, we’re adding to the architectural and cultural fabric of downtown Reading.

The Green Test

Jerry and I and some of the team members attended the United States Build Green Council Exposition held in Chicago in November 2007 where approximately 800 vendors of "green" products exhibited.

We examined and educated ourselves about many processes and products available to incorporate conservation and sustainability into our home construction.

We, also investigated and studied information available through journals, books, and the internet to continuously gain the knowledge we needed to embark on this journey. Mainly, though, we have relied heavily on our knowledgeable and communicative team members to guide us along the way.

Every decision -- from the management of waste on the building site to the selection of kitchen counter tops -- has gone through what I call the "green" test. In other words, we asked: "Is there a green process or product that we are able to implement instead of the traditional non-green one normally used in home construction?"

Every single decision about building this house has been given the "green" test.

They're Pouring (Very Green) Concrete!

Any minute now, the construction crews will begin pouring the cement that will form the foundation of the building. This process will take a couple of weeks, but is among the first real “green elements” that we can showcase.

The cement we’re using will be made up of about 50% fly ash, which is a waste product from manufacturing that would likely otherwise end up in a landfill. We’re really proud that our team has managed to use a 50% mixture, which is higher than the 40% required for a LEED point in the US Green Building Council Guidelines.

There are three main benefits of using cement with fly ash:

First, it helps divert some of the 37 million tons of fly ash that would otherwise consume space in landfills. Fly ash does nothing good for the environment of landfills and simply takes up space.

Secondly, it helps reduce the volume of Portland Cement required. The production of Portland Cement is highly energy intensive and a major contributor of greenhouse gasses.

Finally, the cement itself is stronger. That makes for a more durable, and reliable, building foundation.

So stop by the corner of Third Street and Court Street and watch the show. And remember, even the cement we’re pouring in the ground is adding to the environmental friendliness of the building.

Green and Lean

My husband, Jerry and I live in a large historic home built in 1840 and situated on approximately 17 acres in Berks County. Since our adult children and grandchildren are living in their own homes in various locations in eastern United States, the time had come for us to move into a more convenient home with much less land.

At the same time we were concerned about our wasted use of essential resources, including energy and water. It seemed unethical for two people to live in an estate property that was not built to conserve valuable resources.

Therefore, we embarked on our "green" adventure which led us to decide to build a LEED certified home. We carefully selected our team of advisers and experts to guide us through the process. I stress the word "team" because it has been a team effort from the very beginning of the project. The members of the team and the companies they represent are as follows:

Kevin K. Ohlinger - Architect

Jim Urso and Michael Micozzi - Associated Construction

Tad Radsinski and Jim McGrath - Sustainable Solutions Corp.

Gary Macglaughlin, Jane Greer and Shannon Jensen - Juxtapose Design

In addition, our son, Steve Najarian, has been an enormous help to us in the planning of our home.

Fast Company

There is a great article in this month's Fast Company magazine about Grand Rapids Michigan becoming America's greenest city. That's exactly the kind of change we hope to make here in Berks County.

The Greening of Southie

Please join us on Thursday Oct. 2, at 8:00 p.m. during Berks Movie Madness at the new IMax theater complex  in downtown Reading as Berks County Community Foundation sponsors the local premier of "The Greening of Southie"

Here's a description:

The Greening of Southie
Documentary / Official Selection
Directed by Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney
2008 | 72 min | USA | www.greeningofsouthie.com
What happens when you’re asked to build the city of tomorrow… today? Set on the storied streets of South Boston, The Greening of Southie is a feature documentary about Boston’s first residential green building, and the skeptical workers who are asked to build it. From wheatboard cabinetry to recycled steel, bamboo flooring to dual-flush toilets, The Macallen Building is something different––a leader in the emerging field of environmentally friendly design. But Boston’s steel-toed union workers aren’t sure they like it. And when things on the building start to go wrong, the young developer has to keep the project from unraveling. 

Hope to see you there!

Getting there.....with a team.

Somehow, I became the appointed blogger. But for Berks County Community Foundation to have gotten to this point, it took a whole team effort from our staff.

The real point person on this project is Franki Aitken, our Senior Vice President. She's the one who negotiates contracts, settles disputes, checks on the progress and reminds me that there is a budget for technology and that I will not exceed it. Without her juggling skills, the hole you see at 3rd and Court Streets would still be just an idea.

We had to raise a lot of the money for this building. I'll talk about that more later in future posts, but without the communications talent of our Vice President for Marketing, Heidi Williamson there wouldn't have been the support material for the fundraising, we wouldn't have a blog, there wouldn't have been a groundbreaking. In short, there probably would have been a hole in the ground, but you wouldn't have known about it.

Rick Mappin, our Vice President for Grantmaking is our "Green Building Guy". Without his connections in the field of sustainable design and construction I'm not sure any of us would have learned half of what we now know about sustainability. Because of his leadership in the field of sustainable design, we had connections to firms and people that other groups simply don't have.

And all of us rely on a support team that includes Vivi Anthony, Leta Doganes and Sally Ott that make sure the day to day work of The Community Foundation still gets done. And when we do an event like the groundbreaking, it's "all hands on deck" with the support team making sure details like nametags and special meal requests are handled and that, when I leave the office, I actually have a copy of my speech.

Without our Board of Directors, we wouldn't be anywhere close to this far along. They helped raise funds, contributed design ideas and brought valued expertise to a team that's done a lot of things together, but---well---it's the first and probably last time this team will build a building together.

So, I'll keep writing the blogs while the rest of the team makes sure that the project moves forward. But everyone should know when they undertake a project of this scale, it's a team commitment.

Building A Building And Capacity

One of the things that became very clear to us as we set out on the effort to build a green office space for The Community Foundation was the lack of experience in the community on this issue. When we started down this path, we were frequently greeted with blank stares by people who weren't really familiar with the idea of an environmentally friendly building that minimized energy use.

As I've said before on this blog, we think the reason nobody ever built a green building in Berks County was that....well.....nobody had ever built a green building. This is a particular challenge for a community foundation that tries, whenever it's possible, to work with companies from our region.

To break this cycle, we reached out to architects across the Mid-Atlantic region who had a strong backgrounds in sustainable design. We knew that, for a lot of reasons, our project would be very attractive to firms specializing in green design so we imposed an unusual requirement: They could submit a proposal to design our building, but they had to do it in partnership with an architecture firm located in Berks County. That's rare for a project this size, but many firms responded.

After an extensive review process we selected the Philadelphia-based firm Re:Vision Architecture. They submitted their proposal in partnership with Reading-based DesignWorks.

What we hoped to do was to make sure that at least one Berks County architecture firm could list a LEED certified building on their resume, leading to more buildings. Today, Re:Vision and DesignWorks are working on another local project, this time with DesignWorks in the lead. It's great to see a plan work.

Fortunately, the same pattern came together for the construction management team. Allentown-based Alvin H. Butz Inc. teamed up with Burkey Construction of Reading to build the building.

These two teams have worked together with incredible dedication. As a client, we've been very dedicated to sustainability, but very, very budget conscious. They've worked through the added challenge of creating these joint ventures and, when our project is done, Berks County will have---for the first time---the capacity to design and construct buildings in a whole new---and far more responsible way.

If we build it........

In the business of making grants to improve communities, we often talk about the "theory of change". That's really industry jargon for a "bet". Our bets are that if we do "x", then "y" will happen. One of the things we wanted to do in Berks County is to change the way buildings are built. We know that buildings account for 40% of all energy consumption in the United States and all across the country, people and organizations have been changing the way they construct buildings to make them more energy efficient in their construction and operations and to lessen their overall environmental impact. There are already 1,705 buildings with LEED certification and another 13,741 in the planning process. This is not a small movement.

So, why not here? Why was Berks County so slow to change the way it builds buildings?

This is where Theory of Change thinking starts to formulate. After talking to lots of people, we concluded that nobody had ever built a LEED certified building because........nobody had ever built a LEED certified building. When we talked with folks in the local design and construction community, we heard all the old (wrong) stuff: "You can't do it around here....the codes won't permit it"; "It costs 'more'/it's too expensive"; "It's harder to build that way".

So, our theory of change simply was: If we build the first one, others will follow. So we did. And others are following: Opportunity House has committed to a green expansion for their facility. Albright College's new science building will seek LEED certification. Alvernia College, while not seeking LEED certification is changing the way it undertakes its next construction project to be more environmentally friendly. And we've talked with at least four other groups who have asked for information on how we're doing it, including at least one organization planning a series of very large buildings.

It looks like we're winning our bet.

Where did the trees go?

Last week, they tore the trees out on the south side of our site.   Yes, we think it's ironic that the first thing we had to do to build an environmentally friendly building was to remove the existing trees.   The problem is that they were the wrong type of trees, with shallow root systems that caused the sidewalks to buckle.

What will go up in their place (toward the end of construction) are trees better suited to an urban environment, with root systems that extend deep, but straight down.   And the trees play an important role in energy management.

In the summer months, when we want to block more of the sunlight coming into the building from our important southern exposure, the leaves on the trees will limit the light (and therefore the heat) that enters the windows.   Conversely, in the winter months come and we want as much of that heat and light as we can, there won't be leaves on the trees so we'll be able to take maximum advantage of that heat gain.   This is just one more part of smartly designing a building.

An interesting side note:  Our trees were taken to a wood recycling facility where they were shredded.    Much of the wood from that shredding plant will be used to fire a biofuels energy plant at United Corrstacks in South Reading.  That plant was developed in part with funding from our Metropolitan Edison Company Sustainable Energy Fund.  Not only does it provide electricity for the plant from environmentally friendly biomass products, it helped create jobs for city residents.  

It was also interesting for us to note that, while the LEED standards require a high level of recycling on the site, they're silent on recycling trees (nothing's perfect).  Nevertheless, we think we found a win/win way to move our project forward, while making the best, most environmentally sensitive decisions available.  

In the end, the important thing about green building design is that it forces you to THINK about your options.   

Welcome

Welcome to the Building Green in Berks blog.

We're going to share the journey of constructing the first two LEED -certified buildings in our region.

Carolyn and Jerry Holleran have graciously agreed to share their story as they build an energy efficient and environmentally friendly home, while we at Berks County Community Foundation build our area’s first green office building.

Why’d we do it?

Well, we needed a home for The Community Foundation. We’re growing rapidly and we’re running out of space in the building that has housed us for the past decade. But the choice to grow into a green space really preceded all other decisions. We felt it was important for several reasons.

First, we need to lead.

Berks County dramatically lags other regions in adopting green building technology. Someone needed to break the log-jam and take the plunge. We think the reason no one has ever built a green building here is that, well, no one has ever built a green building. In ten years, all buildings will be constructed this way, but the Community Foundation has a special obligation to provide leadership.

Since we stepped forward, several other organizations committed using green elements in their construction. More than 300 people attended our official groundbreaking ceremony in June, which tells us something about the excitement surrounding this project.

In other words, we’re already on our way to creating a green building revolution in Berks County.

Second, it’s a smart move financially.

Green Building no longer costs "more". Sure, you’ll still hear architects and builders who don’t want to change their old ways claim that it does, but the research just doesn’t bear that out. Our building will save us hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of dollars over its lifetime, making it a wise financial investment for an organization that manages permanent endowments.

Finally, climate change is a global problem with local solutions.

Communities cannot afford to sit back and wait for "Washington" or "Harrisburg" to address the problems of the energy crisis and climate change. People don’t live "on the globe"; they live in communities. Our building is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to educate our region about ways that all of us can work together to preserve the environment…..and our way of life.

So check back often, we’ll be updating this blog all the time as our two projects progress. And don’t forget to tune into BCTV every month for Building Green, a half-hour show featuring architects Bill Vitale of Designworks Architects and Alex Vondeling of Re:Vision Architects. Show archives are available online.

Kevin Murphy
President
Berks County Community Foundation